Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai is the youngest winner ever of the Noble Peace Prize

Malala is a young woman who decided to speak out in her native country of Pakistan.  She wanted the world to know education is important .  She wanted to the world to know women in her country are being denied their basic right to education by fanatical groups.  Her outspokenness and commitment to pursuing her education inspired many and resulted in assassination attempt by the Taliban.

In 2012, at age 14, the Taliban issued a bounty on her life.  Aboard a bus with her friends, a man entered the bus with a Colt 45 and shot Malala in the head.  Miraculously she survived.  She has been through multiple surgeries to repair the damage, but suffered no major brain damage.  She was healthy enough to return to school in 2013.

She has not allowed the acts of violence against her and her message deter her.  She continues to speak out about the power of education and the rights of women to secure those rights.  In 2013 her autobiography, I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, was published.  She has been asked to speak in front of the United Nations and, most recently, was awarded the Noble Peace Prize.

Malala is a strong, committed young women.  What are your thoughts on her story?  Why is education so important?  Why do you think there are groups of people in the world trying to deny children and education?  What are your thoughts about your education? 

Breast Cancer Awareness

Since 1985, October has been designated Breast Cancer Awareness Month.   It is an entire month dedicated to increasing awareness and educating the public of the causes and treatments of breast cancer.  While the organization continues the mission to educate year round, they take one month of the year to pour extra effort into the campaign.

If you pay close attention, you can find pink ribbons throughout the community.    My daughter picked up a car sticker from Dutch Bros with the caption of “Fight Like a Girl” to raise breast cancer awareness. If you watch football on Sundays, the NFL has joined the campaigned.  You will see different teams with some sort of pink accent, whether it be gloves, shoes, or towels. 

Cancer is when cells in the body become abnormal and begin to divide without control or order.  Breast cancer is when this process occurs in the breast tissue of both women and men.  Cells dividing without order can cause excess tissue which forms a mass called a tumor.  While most tumors are not cancerous, many are.  The invasion of these malignant tumors can cause additional damage to other tissue and organs.

In 2009, there was an approximate 192,370 cases of breast cancer diagnosed.  That number includes 1,910 men.  In the same year there were 40,610 deaths including 440 men.  There are approximately 2.5 million survivors.  It is the second most common type of cancer in women (skin cancer is first) and the second leading cause of cancer related deaths to women (lung cancer is first).  With such a wide spread disease, it is difficult to find anyone who has not been effected or experienced breast cancer in some way, either with a relative, spouse or friend.

Measuring the total impact of the campaign to support breast cancer awareness may be difficult.  But it is true that there has been a significant decrease is the number of incidents (2% decline) and death (2% decline) in the last ten to fifteen years.

What do you think about having a month dedicated to breast cancer awareness?  What companies or organizations have you seen supporting the campaign?  Are there other diseases which could benefit from starting similar campaigns?  If so, what disease and why?